


and there was only one bed...

by downtothewire



Category: Marvel, Runaways (Comics), Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Pining, one bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-04
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-21 16:42:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15562035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/downtothewire/pseuds/downtothewire
Summary: Not actually focusing on what they’re supposed to be doing, worrying about their murdering parents, Nico crushes hard on Karolina.Or the One Bed™ Trope.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> OMG there was only one bed.
> 
> Hey guys!
> 
> This is actually something I had a great time writing and I think it turned out alright. Hope you enjoy it!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico sees Karolina in a new light when in a moment of peace she starts to notice everything she likes about the other girl.

Karolina had come over to her house to plan, but that wasn’t actually going to happen it seemed. Nico had invited her to discuss what they should do next about their whole parental situation. She didn’t fully understand why, but she trusted Karolina the most. There was something pure and honest about her, and in a world where everyone seemed to be lying to her, that was refreshing. 

She thought Alex could have been trusted, but she’s been having a hard time not being suspicious after the whole password thing. Given everything that happened recently she can’t help but feel like she doesn’t know who to trust. She knows she has trust issues and probably needs to work on them, but that has been filed to analyze after they deal with their parents’ murdering cult. 

She didn’t feel that way about Karolina, though, for some reason.

But dealing with that didn’t seem to be happening right now, instead of focusing, Karolina was swaying to music and going through Nico’s closet. Nico had a brief thought that they should probably get back to what they were doing, but she hadn’t felt this weightless in a really long time. She was just having a good time and maybe that’s what she needed most right now - just a moment to forget.

“Do you have anything that’s not black?” Karolina called out from the closet.

“I have a few dark red pieces,” Nico replied nonchalantly while scrolling through her phone.

“Aren’t you the brooding type?” She asked rhetorically.

The music that was playing was soft and almost ethereal. Nico couldn’t identify who it was because Karolina’s playlist was the one currently on the speaker, but she found it soothing nonetheless.

Karolina poked her head outside to ask, “Can I try something on?”

“You? Miss rainbow and sunshines wants to try on these dark and brooding clothes?” Nico questioned, raising her head from her phone and quirking her eyebrow.

“Yeah, why not? Seems like fun!”

Karolina’s mood was infectious and her smile was wide. Nico couldn’t have denied her if she tried.

“Okay, fine. Go ahead. Just don’t ruin anything.”

Karolina’s smile grew wider into a grin as she retreated back into the closet. Nico could hear the sounds of the hangers against the metal bars and zippers as Karolina looked for an outfit. Nico had to stop the smile on her lips as she went back to her phone. There was something truly special about Karolina and Nico knew it. It’s hard to be her moody self around the human embodiment of rainbows.

After a few more minutes of rummaging around, Karolina seemed content, as she exclaimed, “Okay! I’m ready! You’re not allowed to laugh.”

Nico put down her phone, “Go ahead. Show me dark brooding Karolina.”

Karolina walked out of the closet in a fishnet top, black jean shorts, combat boots, and a choker around her neck. Not bad for a beginner, Nico thought, she looked...

As Nico searched for the word to describe it, Karolina walked to the full body mirror stuck to her wall. She gathered her hair in a pony tail, exposing the back of her neck. At the sight of the exposed skin, Nico’s brain found the word to describe it: hot. Karolina looked hot.

Nico only had a second to dwell on the fact that she would’ve liked to kiss that part of her neck before the blonde turned to her with that goofy grin that was currently making Nico’s insides flutter. 

“What do you think?” She asked tugging on the shirt that was riding up.

Nico shook her head to free it of its inappropriate thoughts about her friend, “Looks great,” was all she was able to muster.

“Yeah? You don’t think I look ridiculous? I feel a bit ridiculous in this, honestly.”

“No, no. Not ridiculous at all. You look amazing,” Nico said before she had a chance to think any better of it. Maybe it was her own imagination, but she thought she saw Karolina blush.

Regaining her composure, Nico continued, “You’re only missing one thing, though, to fully convert over to the dark side.”

“What’s that?” Karolina asked, confused.

Nico stood from her bed and walked into her bathroom. She came back out with a zippered bag in hand, “Make-up,” Nico explained.

Karolina’s eyes grew comically large, “That’s all make-up?” She asked as she examined the size of the bag in Nico’s arms.

Nico shrugged before answering, “It takes a lot to make this happen.” She pointed at her own face. Karolina nodded at her, dumbfounded.

Nico took a seat on the bed and patted in front of her for Karolina to sit, “Come on. We don’t have all day.”

Karolina walked over and sat in front of Nico - her eyes downcast and her hands wringing together. Nico could tell she was nervous, but she clearly couldn’t tell why, because she comforted Karolina by saying, “It’s okay. I won’t ruin your face. It’s pretty hard to do that.” Was she flirting with her?

“Okay,” Karolina murmured.

“We’ll get it off after if you don’t like it. Promise.”

“Sounds good.”

“Now, if we’re going to do this, I’m going to need you to look up.”

Nico took Karolina’s chin in her hand and tilted her head upwards, trying to ignore how blue her eyes really were this up close. She reached into her make-up bag for everything she needed. She saw Karolina look at the objects scared, clearly unsure of what they were.

“Trust me,” she comforted her. To which Karolina nodded softly.

“Now, this might not be the greatest look as you’re more tan than me, and my concealer and foundation probably won’t match your skin tone, but I promise to try my best.”

Karolina laughed softly before telling her, “It’s okay. I trust you.” This felt like something more to Nico, but she decided to file it under the ‘for later’ category of her brain. She fleetingly wondered when that would fill up, but then filed that thought there too.

Nico was trying to decide if being this close to Karolina was her smartest or stupidest decision ever. As her hands gently brushed against the girl’s skin, she could feel her fingertips tingling. She wasn’t sure if she was right, but she thought Karolina’s skin felt hot, almost like she was blushing again. She couldn’t fully tell, however, under the thick layer of foundation she was applying to her face.

Believing the worst to be over, Nico moved on to the final touch: lipstick. She grabbed her lip liner and started to outline the shape of Karolina’s lips. How wrong she was to believe the worst was over, she quickly decided. Nico was intently staring at Karolina’s lips, with no reason to stop or be caught, and she was rapidly becoming obsessed. Nico’s hands started to shake a bit, like they never do when she applies make-up on herself, making her mess up slightly.

“Oh! Sorry! I got a little...” Nico trailed off as she leaned in to take a closer look and found herself too close to Karolina’s lips. The ones she was now completely obsessed with.

She gently swiped at her lips correcting her mistake. She couldn’t believe how soft they felt under her thumb. When Karolina smiled slightly and closed her eyes under her ministrations, Nico felt like her heart was going to explode out of her chest. She swallowed heavily before leaning in. “Don’t freak out,” she whispered against Karolina’s lips.

Nico had almost closed the full distance when she heard Whizey’s voice, “The Alpha user is arriving at the house.”

Karolina and Nico instantly broke apart. Each retreating to their corner of the bed with their faces flaming from embarrassment. Was she really about to kiss Karolina? She asked herself before hearing her mother’s footsteps coming up the stairs. The only sound in the room was the slight creak of Nico’s door as she heard her mother enter.

Tina walked in the room to two blushing teenagers sitting five feet apart from each other. She looked at Nico and then saw Karolina, “Oh! Karolina! You’re here. Are you sleeping over?”

Nico knew her mother always had a soft spot for Karolina. That her disappearance from Nico’s life after Amy passed worried her. Her smile seemed sincere as she looked at Karolina for an answer. An answer which Karolina was clearly not being able to give her as she remained almost catatonic.

“I’m not sure that would be the best idea. Karolina’s mom said she wanted her home tonight,” Nico tried, needing the space to think.

“Why? I’m sure Leslie wouldn’t mind. I’ll ask her myself. That should convince her. You girls seem like you’re having fun, why stop it?”

“We’re not having too much fun!” Karolina added, a hint of desperation to her tone. 

Tina looked at her confused, but shook it off and just said, “Dinner should be ready soon. I expect you both down there,” before exiting the room.

Tina’s dismissal of their attempts made Nico’s insides turn. She could not share a bed with Karolina, not tonight. They hadn’t had a sleepover for years and now felt like the worst time to start having them again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After their almost kiss, Karolina and Nico are forced to share one bed.

Once Tina was gone, Nico and Karolina quickly found excuses to keep themselves busy and away from each other.

“I’m going to...” Nico trailed off as she pointed to the make-up bag. She walked closer to the girl and started putting everything away into the bag and applying the correct lids when Karolina stood.

“I’ll just put this back,” she said, gesturing to the outfit.

Nico finished with the make-up as she kept hearing the sounds of Karolina in the closet and the soft music that still hadn’t been stopped. This felt like the wrong time to have romantic music played over whatever was going on. She walked into the bathroom to put the bag back on her counter top. She was ready to spend a couple more minutes hiding in there when Karolina spoke, “Um, Nico?”

Nico inhaled deeply before answering, “Yeah?” While exhaling.

“Would you mind coming in here for a second?” Karolina asked. Nico didn’t know what would greet her in the closet. She hoped and dreaded that maybe Karolina would still be changing.

Her feet were heavy as they dragged her towards the closet. She walked in and what she found wasn’t exactly what she was imagining. Karolina had her arms above her head, stuck inside of the fishnet top. Granted her bra was showing, but this was too funny for Nico to do anything but laugh. She laughed earnestly for the first time in what seemed like forever, her eyes even watering.

“What happened?” Nico asked, the laughter evident in her voice.

“I’m stuck,” Karolina mumbled.

Nico understood her, but decided she could do with a little more tension breaking, and plus, she couldn’t help herself from teasing Karolina a bit, “Sorry?”

“I’m stuck,” Karolina said, her tone slightly louder.

“Come again?”

Nico’s smirk could be heard from her voice apparently, because Karolina had enough, “Oh! Ha, ha! Very funny. Just help me, please.”

Nico released another laugh before finally giving in, “It’s my pleasure,” she said without thinking - immediately regretting her poor choice of words. Nico was highly amused as she helped Karolina wiggle out of the shirt.

When they were done, Karolina sighed heavily, “Thank God! Why would you buy that death trap?”

Nico could hear that she asked her a question, but couldn’t answer. Right now all she could register was the fact that Karolina was standing in front of her shirtless, her hair mussed, the lipstick on her lips smudged, wearing a black bra. She looked like she had been thoroughly...

Nico didn’t finish that sentence in her mind. Karolina was her friend. She had no right to think of her that way. She stopped herself when she saw Karolina noticed she staring.

“You should probably get dressed for dinner,” Nico’s voice was small as she turned to walk back into the room. She threw herself on the bed and quickly grabbed her phone to distract her from everything else.

Karolina walked out of the closet with the clothes she had on before. She seemed shier, more self aware. And now Nico couldn’t help but think she looked pretty that way too. What kind of mess has she gotten herself into now? She was into Alex a couple weeks ago. Wasn’t she? How had she not seen Karolina in this light before? Had she seen her in this light before?

Her thoughts were broken by a melodic voice, “Let’s head downstairs?”

“Um, yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Let’s go,” Nico spoke in sentence fragments before standing up and following her out the door.

Dinner was filled with mostly chit chat between her father and mother where they would stop to ask Karolina mundane questions about school and her personal life. Each question she answered with a smile on her lips, in her perfect church girl persona. Nico was starting to think she might be going insane, because she glanced at her discreetly every chance she got. Her leg fidgeted under the table the entire meal. She needed to be anywhere but here.

That all changed when she walked back to her room and she remembered that they would have to share a bed. This was actually the place she least wanted to be. How torturous are the Gods to make her stay this close to the girl while she can’t do anything about it. Karolina is straight, she told herself.

“Can you lend me pajamas?” Karolina asked, breaking the palpable silence.

“Um, yeah. Of course.”

Nico moved into the closet to grab pajamas for both of them. The irony of being in the closet right now did not escape her. A small self-deprecating laugh escaped her lips as she looked for the pajamas that would cover up the most amount of skin possible on Karolina. She walked out and handed the taller girl them.

“Seems like you’re wearing a lot of my clothes today,” Nico tried to joke, but she could hear her own nervousness. Karolina’s laugh in turn sounded equally uncomfortable as she took them from Nico’s hands.

“You can go first,” Nico suggested, gesturing to the bathroom.

“Okay,” Karolina said before leaving.

As soon as she was gone and Nico heard the door lock, she threw herself once more on the bed and sighed heavily. She ran her hands against her face, aware that probably this wasn’t great for her skin, but hoping for the minuscule chance it might relieve some stress. Her mind was sounding with thoughts of Karolina. When she tried to shake them off, they just became more vivid. The shape of her lips, the deepness in her eyes, the width of her smile, the color of her bra...

Nico was a goner.

Soon Karolina exited the bathroom and Nico’s longest pajamas weren’t long enough. The shorts that were usually knee-length on Nico, were mid-thigh on Karolina and having her legs exposed nearly gave Nico a heart attack. She jumped up and excused herself, needing every excuse possible not to do something she would regret.

In the bathroom, she took her time wiping off her make-up. She splashed some water on her face when she finished. A last ditch attempt to try and shake off whatever spell she was under at the moment.

Exiting the bathroom, she found Karolina already in bed leaning up against the headboard - her legs, thankfully, covered. Nico slipped into bed, keeping the most amount of distance possible between them.

“We never really planned today,” Karolina spoke, her voice soft.

“Yeah...” Nico said before adding, “We’ll do it another time.”

There seemed to be a promise in that statement, a secret question that she wanted to see how Karolina would react to.

“Okay, another time,” she conceded and Nico felt a flutter in her chest. Apparently that was the answer her heart was searching for.

“Well, good night,” Nico said before shutting off the lamp on her bedside table and turning away from Karolina.

“Night,” she answered, her voice riddled with something that might have been disappointment.

An hour came and went as Nico laid in bed unable to fall asleep. She could feel Karolina’s body heat beside her and she was scared if she fell asleep she would unconsciously be drawn to it. She held tightly to the covers to give her hands something to do that wasn’t reaching out for the girl beside her.

She heard a soft whispered, “Nico?”

She could have been imagining it, but she had a lot less to lose under the cover of darkness, “Yeah?” She asked softly enough that if Karolina was sleeping it wouldn’t have woken her up.

There’s a brief silence and Nico’s starting to accept that she imagined it before Karolina spoke up again, a bit louder this time, “What did you mean by don’t freak out?”

The question made Nico’s ears start ringing and her palms start sweating, “I don’t know.”

“Oh,” Karolina answered. This time there was no doubt she was disappointed and Nico heard it. Maybe that’s what gave her the courage to say what she did next.

“I mean... I just meant don’t freak out, because I was about to do something and you might’ve not liked it.”

“Oh,” Karolina said, her tone now curious, “What were you about to do?”

It took every ounce of courage in her heart to admit to it. Maybe it was because it was night and she could pretend it never happened in the morning or maybe it was because she heard hope in Karolina’s voice, but Nico muttered, “Kiss you.”

“Sorry?”

“Kiss you,” Nico said this time a little louder.

“Come again?” Karolina teased, and Nico caught on to what she was doing.

“Not funny, Kar,” Nico said, her cheeks burning with embarrassment.

Karolina laughed a little out louder than necessary, expelling some of her nervous energy.

“You know... I would’ve-I would’ve kissed you back.”

Every alarm in Nico’s body blared as she turned to look at Karolina who had turned to face her too, “You would’ve?”

Karolina just nodded slightly, so slightly, Nico was afraid it was all in her head again.

“Is-is it okay if I do it now then?” Nico tried, her whole body wanting to both move closer and run away from Karolina.

She nodded again, this time more clearly and Nico could see it. She felt like if this was how she died, because her heart was beating too fast, then she’d probably be fine with that.

“Okay,” Nico said.

None of them made any movements, however, scared to break the spell of the moment.

“So?” Karolina asked her.

“So,” Nico answered - her courage completely wasted by her previous questions.

“Damn it, Nico,” Karolina uttered with no malice. She scooted closer to Nico and placed her hand against her cheek. The feather light touch sent a shiver down Nico’s spine causing her eyes to shut. Right after, she felt Karolina’s lips against hers. They were even better against her lips than they were against her thumb.

Too soon, Karolina pulled back. She looked into her eyes searching to see if it was okay to continue. Nico tried to wordlessly convey just how okay it really was. She apparently did a good job, because soon Karolina’s lips were back against hers. She felt a large amount of tension leave her body as they kissed. The parts of her mind she had been ignoring for so long clearing. Their hands wandered and pajamas were wrinkled before both of them pulled apart, their foreheads still connected.

Nico kept her eyes closed wanting to commit the memory of this moment to mind. Her throat felt like there was a knot in it. She swallowed to see if she could get rid of it, but it came back as fast as it had left. If she was going to get this breathless every time she was around Karolina from now on, she would pass out sooner rather than later.

She could feel the pressure lift from her throat and shift to her lips as they broke into a large smile. She opened her eyes to see Karolina looking at her like nothing else mattered but them at that exact moment. Nico couldn’t have agreed more.

And in the morning when Nico awoke with her arms safely around the taller girl, waking her up to a small kiss on the back of her neck, and the feel of a morning of sweet nothings and soft kisses; she would completely forget for a second, a much needed second, about everything that pained her. That was what made Karolina so special to Nico, she realized, she brought light to places in her that had been in the dark for so long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed how I concluded this, I had a couple other ways to go, but this felt right to me and I like how it came together!
> 
> Tell me what you think
> 
> Tumblr: @downtothe-wire


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